Although opioids offer potent analgesia for severe acute and chronic noncancer pain, adverse gastrointestinal effects potentially undermine their clinical utility. In particular, between 40% and 95% of patients develop opioid-induced constipation (OIC). Therefore, there is a consensus that patients should commence laxatives at the start of opioid therapy and continue throughout treatment. Nevertheless, laxatives are not routinely coprescribed with opioids. Even when concurrent laxatives are prescribed, approximately half the patients treated for OIC do not achieve the desired improvement. Moreover, laxatives do not target the underlying cause of OIC (opioid binding to the μ-receptors in the enteric system) and as such are not very effective at managing OIC. The failure of lifestyle modification and laxatives to treat adequately many cases of OIC led to the concurrent use of peripherally acting opioid antagonists (such as methylnaltrexone bromide and naloxone) to reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal adverse events without compromising analgesia. Judicious use of the various options to manage OIC should allow more patients to benefit from opioid analgesia. Therefore, this paper reviews the causes, consequences, and management of OIC to help clinicians optimise opioid analgesia.

Background Complex regional pain syndrome is a painful and disabling post‐traumatic primary pain disorder. Acute and chronic complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) are major clinical challenges. In Europe, progress is hampered by significant heterogeneity in clinical practice. We sought to establish standards for the diagnosis and management of CRPS. Methods The European Pain Federation established a pan‐European task force of experts in CRPS who followed a four‐stage consensus challenge process to produce mandatory quality standards worded as grammatically imperative (must‐do) statements. Results We developed 17 standards in 8 areas of care. There are 2 standards in diagnosis, 1 in multidisciplinary care, 1 in assessment, 3 for care pathways, 1 in information and education, 4 in pain management, 3 in physical rehabilitation and 2 on distress management. The standards are presented and summarized, and their generation and consequences were discussed. Also presented are domains of practice for which no agreement on a standard could be reached. Areas of research needed to improve the validity and uptake of these standards are discussed. Conclusion The European Pain Federation task force present 17 standards of the diagnosis and management of CRPS for use in Europe. These are considered achievable for most countries and aspirational for a minority of countries depending on their healthcare resource and structures. Significance This position statement summarizes expert opinion on acceptable standards for CRPS care in Europe.

Patients on triple combination therapy maintained their quality of life over 48 weeks compared with significant decreases in the quality of life for ddC/ZDV combination therapy.